A hard-hit ball reaches first base in a third of a second. Adam Lind, the Blue Jays first baseman doing on-the-job training, has a lot to think about in that time.

First, he must fight the urge to square his body so that the ball is headed toward the centre of his mass. Whether off a right- or left-handed bat, a groundball to first tends to tail away toward the foul line.

Lind must move to his left so that his right foot is lined up with the ball's initial path.